Diamond Rain is a Planet's Best Friend
Read our latest feature for some serious exoplanet pizzazz. Also starring moon trash and medical lettuce.
Howdy, space folks! In this week's newsletter, we're delivering gemstones, repurposed as rain on a faraway world. Plus, we take a closer look at all the garbage piling up on the moon (fair warning: some of it is, in fact, astronaut poop). As always, there's a heaping helping of breaking space industry news, as well as a brand-new selection of curated reads for your entertainment. Enjoy!
Exploring Lunar Litter: The dust, the bags, and the radioactive
by Joanna Thompson
There are currently more than 400,000 pounds of man-made material littering the lunar surface. This debris ranges from crashed rocket stages to abandoned landers to bags of astronaut poop. As missions like NASA's Artemis program and China’s International Lunar Research Station loom closer on the horizon, it's becoming increasingly apparent that someone needs to take out the moon trash.
New Study Shows Never-Before-Seen Details of Exoplanet’s Atmosphere
by Jackie Appel
From worlds with two suns to planets made of diamond, exoplanets are wildly varied and often surprising. That surprise is frequently amplified by the fact that we still have a hard time seeing these worlds. Scientists are becoming better and better at spotting exoplanets, but seeing them in any detail requires a mix of exceptional technology, minimal distance, and cosmic luck.
Breaking News Updates
Firefly Aerospace, a launch vehicle development company, just raised at least $75 million for a second launch attempt in its latest round of funding. The first launch, which took place last September, failed to reach orbit after one of its four engines gave out fifteen seconds into the flight. The company is now under new ownership, and is targeting a Q2 second launch.
The James Webb Space Telescope has begun the process of completing its camera alignment. The deep space scope sent back a stunning photo last week of a star 2,000 light years away. In six weeks, once its three other near-infrared cameras and guiding instrument are calibrated, it will be ready to peer literally back in time at galaxies billions of years old.
Even the International Space Station needs repairs. Yesterday, NASA astronaut Raja Chari and ESA astronaut Matthias Mauer executed a spacewalk to make repairs to the ISS’s exterior. The pair installed hoses on a radiator beam valve module in order to help the station maintain proper internal temperature. They also replaced a camera and installed a power and data cable.
Scientists are developing a way to grow medicine in space, using lettuce. Pharmaceuticals take up valuable cargo room, and can degrade due to radiation. But by growing lettuce leaves genetically modified to produce an anti-bone loss drug, astronaut health might one day be just a salad away.
NASA recently announced a new competition to develop a second lunar lander as part of the Artemis program. Called the “Sustaining Lunar Development” award, the project will ensure that another company (in addition to SpaceX) will help deliver astronauts and cargo to the moon. NASA official Jim Free indicated that the award will help foster “healthy competition” in space exploration.
Space Tweet of the Week
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are the pieces of space-adjacent news we’ve been reading this week.
This lovely article from Scientific American is about how women astronomers are remaking the field on their own terms. (Notable quote: “I enjoy being a girl,” says Lia Medeiros, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., where she studies black holes. “And I’m going to be a girl all over their physics. This is my world, too.”)
A vaguely haunting piece in the Atlantic about how we’ve found over 5,000 exoplanets, but none that appear truly Earth-like.
Were Russian cosmonauts stealth-protesting their country’s invasion of Ukraine as they boarded the ISS this weekend? The Washington Post digs in.
The always-entertaining Bad Astronomy’s breakdown of JWST’s first image.
This Week’s Episode
Continuum E2: Who Takes Out the Trash on the Moon?
In case you couldn’t join us live, you can catch episode two here!
Continuum Podcast
Only have time for the highlights? Check out our companion podcast! Whether you’re a space enthusiast or just starting to look up at the stars, we’ll take the best parts of our show and present them for you in 8 minutes or less.
Things Found on the Internet…
Credit: starlust.org
Thus concludes this week's newsletter. But never fear, we'll be back in two weeks time to bring you more of the best stories from across the universe. Until then, stay stellar.
Joanna
Head of Editorial Content @Continuum